Rescue
by magewriter
Summary: RazxLili. Takes place directly after the game, and is completely independent from any of the other stories I've written. Involves a new, rather emo, character.
1. Decorating Ideas

Rescue

By Magewriter

Disclaimer: Why the heck would I be writing fanfiction if I could make another game?

See? I SAID I'd do some RazLili fanfic! So, anyways, they go to rescue Truman and… Why am I telling you this? You're gonna be reading it in a second!

"What would we do without our kidnapping expert?"

Raz, and his girlfriend Lili, and the sometimes-camp counselors Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello, all floated into the psitanium-powered jet. Sasha and Milla helped the mentally tired psychonaut who had flown the jet before to get it to Psychonauts HQ, with Lili to help with navigation. After awhile, she got annoying.

"No! I said LEFT! Not strait!"

"Lili, we know how to fly a Psychonaut jet!" Surprisingly, the outburst was from Milla.

Raz walked over to Lili and put his arm over her shoulder, turning her to face him. He recognized that attitude as being really, really stressed.

"Lili, it's going to be okay. We'll get your dad back. All we need is a slight lead. I didn't even get any clues and I rescued a whole camp full of kids. How hard can it be to get your dad back?"

"But… but Oleander was insane!"

"How sane do you think these people are, if they've kidnapped the Head of the Psychonauts?"

That made Lili smile, in spite of herself.

"And when we do find them, let's make them sane again, so they know what's happening when they're in prison."

"Okay."

"Children, we're almost there. Sasha, darling, try not to set off any intruder alarms this time, okay?"

"Milla, that was only once. We were in Los Angeles."

"Yes? And your point is?"

"The point is, it's surprising that you haven't set off any in HQ yet, the way you dress."

"Yes darling, but you just looked so… conspicuous. I'm always recognized because who could forget my clothes? In L.A., you just didn't fit in."

"You don't fit in here."

"Yes, darling, but it's different here."

Raz was getting bored. "Uh… Lili? You wanna go get some Starbucks after this?"

"No, loser, I don't drink Starbucks. It's worse than soda. Let's just get ice cream. Or chocolate. Chocolate's good for stress. I know this place that sells chocolate with little bits of cocoa in it. It's really good."

"Um… if you say so."

The people of Washington D.C., of course, were perfectly used to psychics (especially Psicadets) levitating above the streets and holding things without touching them. And once in a while, a couple of rowdy Psicadets would ride their levi-balls on the bike lanes. The tourists weren't expecting this, however. Fortunately, Raz was used to being stared at, and Lili didn't care. Not that she didn't usually ride her levi-ball everywhere. It was a cover, though. She could levitate, and normally did, as well as Milla or Sasha. Her father made her practice all of her skills, every day, and if she wasn't working on them for at least an hour every day, he got mad. It sucked.

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As they approached Psychonauts HQ, the first one to run (or actually, levitate, with no pretense of a glowing ball) through the door was Lili. Sasha and Milla waited for Raz to catch up.

Lili, of course, raced up to the very top floor (where she wasn't actually allowed to go) and raced up to the second-in-command, Agent Jane Kim. Lili was one of the few people who knew her first name.

Agent Kim had a sharp voice. "Lili! What are you doing here? You are strictly prohibited from coming to the top two floors!"

"Do you know where my dad is?"

"No, Lili, we're trying to find a lead. That's why we need silence. Now, go downstairs."

"You know I could help you!"

"Lili, no you can't. We think we've just about got something. Now, go downstairs, hang out with some other Psicadets, and don't worry. We'll find your dad in no time."

"Agent Kim?"

"Yes, Lili?"

"I hate you."

And Lili walked back down to the bottom floor, where she saw agents Vodello, Nein, and Aquato.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to be in my room right now." She didn't wait for a reply, because she didn't know how long she could hold back tears. She certainly got some odd looks from the psychonauts that she passed on her way.

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Raz followed Lili, both to learn some of the layout of HQ, and to comfort Lili once she was in her room.

Suddenly, he got an odd vibe from her.

_God, I hope Raz isn't following me._

He pulled out of the bond that he had unconsciously formed with her. He thought there might be more, but… Didn't Lili like him? Hadn't they kissed? Twice?

He walked back to the main room, where agents Vodello and Nein no longer were.

He decided that he should go to the reception desk. Psychonauts always had one room (and sometimes also an office) in HQ, whether they used it or not. Psicadets shared a room between two people, and all bedrooms were on separate wings of HQ. _Oh my god,_ he though suddenly, _I'm going to be on the opposite side of the building from Lili. Maybe it's for the better, though._

He talked to the receptionist at the front desk.

"Uh, I'm Razputin Aquato, and I'm a psychonaut."

"Identification please."

"Oh! Um, I have it in my backpack somewhere… I think it's in the little pocket."

Eventually, after a couple minutes of searching, he was able to present the desk lady with his school ID.

"He, ha, very funny. Proper Psychonaut identification, if you will and also your Psychic Practices permit."

"Uh, I haven't gotten those yet."

"Then I can't help you."

"Well, how can I get them?"

"You figure it out. Simple enough to do."

After a minute, he thought of one of the skills that had helped him to do many things, including release a person's inner Milkman personality. He used clairvoyance on the receptionist.

He saw all sorts of things, including room numbers that had made her think about their mathematical properties, names of people that she had laughed at, and (since it was all arranged in lists) a list of useful people, arranged by occupation.

"So, I have to go see Agent Johnson?"

"Maybe."

He left the trivial receptionist and went to look at the map. It was kind of like those maps in malls, with the little stickers that say "You are here." Johnson's office was… floor one, over in that part of it. So… Just walk over there.

"Uh, Agent Johnson?"

"Yes, cadet?"

"Uh, I'm not a Psycadet. That's why I'm here. I'm a psychonaut now. Agents Nein, Vodello, and Oleander will vouch for me, and so will all the kids that went to Whispering Rock this summer."

"Young cadet, I don't have time for pranks. Something big has just happened, and –"

"Exactly! I'm one of the people assigned to get him back, so I need my Psychonauts ID and a Psychic Practices permit!"

Agent Johnson turned around to face him. "If I call Agent Nein, and he says you aren't a Psychonaut, then will you leave me alone?"

He had obviously expected for Raz to run away at the threat of Sasha Nein possibly being mad at him.

He wasn't.

"Sure, But he's gonna say I'm a Psychonaut. He was there when I became one."

The call went the way Raz had expected it to, leaving Agent Johnson very surprised.

"Okay, then I have to ask you a few questions."

"Sure."

The better part of an hour was spent with Raz answering Agent Johnson's questions and Agent Johnson taking his picture. Finally, the two cards had been developed and Raz went to talk to the receptionist again.

"So, do you have your identification yet?"

"Yep! Here they are!"

The receptionist sent him a dry look, but she glanced at the little plastic cards he handed her.

And was almost knocked out of her seat.

"Okay, Mr. Aquato, let me see…" She typed some stuff into her computer.

"Oh, you're… you're in the Psycadet wing."

"It's okay. I don't mind. They're more my age."

"If you're okay with it, I guess…"

"Really, I am."

"Okay. You're paired with… Are you sure you don't want your own room?"

He remembered Lili's thought when he had followed her down the hall. Fortunately, the receptionist didn't seem like that strong of a telepath.

"Uh, maybe that _would_ better."

"Okay. You'll be in…" She typed some other things into her computer (isn't the electronic age wonderful?) "Room 316. Third floor of the Psychonauts wing, over in a corner. Here's your key."

"Thanks!"

He grabbed the little "316" key and ran to the Psychonauts Wing.

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He remembered reading somewhere that Psychonauts didn't spend too much time in their rooms. Now he knew why. It was baisically composed of a bed, a small refrigerator, an electric stove, an oven, and a bathroom with a shower. The lighting, frankly, wasn't that good. He went to Agent Vodello's room. She ought to have some good ideas of how to decorate her room.

He knocked on her door.

"Come in, darling! It's open!"

He opened her door. She and Sasha were sitting on her bed, and they had most likely been talking about something.

The room of Milla Vodello was an absolute burst of color. There were cloth panels on the walls, two or three lava lamps of assorted colors, bright pillows and a fuzzy bedspread on her bed, a bright carpet shaped like a hippie daisy, and all sorts of stuff that was often associated with the 60's. Milla herself appeared to have been taking notes, for the notepad in the air in front of her with the fluffy-topped pen writing on it had a font of a type that more girls used than guys, in a color that Sasha would cringe at.

"What did you want, darling?"

"Well, my room kind of sucks, so I wanted to see if you had any decorating ideas."

It suddenly occurred to him that it would normally be considered odd that a ten-year-old was looking for decorating ideas.

"Well, you look around all you like, darling. Sasha, could he go in your room?"

"Sure."

"There you go, darling. You can explore either of our rooms as much as you like."

Raz had been looking around for a couple minutes when Lili came in. She looked like she'd been crying.

"If anyone dares ask, I'll rip their heads off."

Raz knew she probably didn't want him to be there. "Um, I think I'll, uh, go now."

"No, Raz, I want you to be here." She didn't seem mad at him.

"But… weren't you mad at me?"

"No, dork, what gave you that idea?"

"Well, you thinking 'God I hope Raz isn't following me' was kind of a hint."

"_God!_ If you're going to invade my MPS, you should at _least_ listen to the whole thought!"

"Uh… MPS?"

"Mental personal space. But, the whole thought, for your information, was, 'God, I hope Raz isn't following me. I can't let him see me cry! I can't!' So, if you're going to be immature, go ahead, but if you invade my MPS, at least think about what you're hearing. And don't pull out of my mind so fast. I think that's what made my headache into a migraine."

"Oh, uh, sorry."

"Whatever, dork."

That is so totally Lili. Especially as the end of a chapter. The network was down all day yesterday, so then I had to wait for my mom to finish reading all her news on all her news sites and then I had to answer my email, then I had to write this little paragraph. I could've upgraded yesterday otherwise. Don't expect any other chapters to be this long, by the way.


	2. Zig

Chapter 2: Zig

Yeah, by now I baisically just label all my chapters "qwerty" when I need a document name. It's a cool word, and really easy to type. Look at your keyboard and you'll see why.

"Darling, we need to know some things. We know that this is a hard time for you, but…"

"It's okay. I'm over that part. What do you need to know?"

"Well, since these people are smart enough to show us that your father is okay, they aren't doing this to hurt him. That means that they're doing it to hurt other people. We need to have a list of everyone who would hate you or the Psychonauts enough to do this. We'll also be talking to your mother, darling."

"Okay… Well, there's Bobby Zilch, Benny…"

"We're serious, darling."

"I lit both of them on fire a couple times. I think they hate me by now."

"Everyone does that sometime, darling. I'm sure they've forgotten my now."

"Well, there is this one guy… no."

"What, darling?"

"An old boyfriend. He was cheating on me with this one girl, Kelsey, so I broke up with him. We go to the same elementary school."

"So… he's a psychic?"

"Yeah. So are both of his parents."

"Interesting. Anyone else you can think of?"

"Not really. You've got down all the usual people who are behind this stuff, right?"

"Yes, darling. That's what Sasha and I were doing before you got here."

"So… What was Raz doing?"

At the sound of his name, Raz stopped staring off into space. "What?"

"What were you doing here?"

"I was, uh, just hanging out."

"Oh. Okay. Bye, guys. Oh, uh, Raz?"

"Yeah?"

"Redecorating isn't a sin. It's actually really fun. You might want to look at my room sometime. I'm with this girl who's kind of like me. Our room rocks."

"Oh… I guess I need to work on my guarding, too, huh?"

"Yep."

Lili turned around then, and left.

Raz followed her.

"So, uh, what's this other girl like?"

"Her name's Zig. That's what people call her anyway. Probably only the Psychonauts and her family know her real name. She's better at guarding than me, but I'm getting better. She's cool."

"You said she's like me. Does that mean she's gonna call me 'dork' and 'loser' every couple sentences?"

"No, you dork. She knows you're cool."

"Oh. So she knows about me?"

"Yep."

"What does she know about me?"

"She knows you saved a summer camp, kissed me twice, and made four people sane. I also told her how hot you are."

"Uh… What?"

"Oh, _come on!_ You spent ten years as an acrobat! You have red hair! You're heckuv cute!"

"Oh, uh… You are too."

"I know. I've been thinking of cutting my hair soon though. Right above my shoulders."

"Oh. I like your pigtails. They look really cool."

"Yeah, but they're kind of a hassle to do. Sometimes I wish I could just brush my hair and be done with it."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

"Raz, are you going to agree with me no matter what I say?"

"Well, I know people who had long hair, then they cut it, and it still looked really good. I don't care about hair anyway. That's a girl thing."

"Yeah, I guess that's why you wear a helmet all the time."

"Did you… did you just say my hair sucks?"

"See? Hair _is_ a guy thing. Here's my room."

It was amazing, Raz thought, that two people could talk about hair for half of the walk from one side of a government building to the next.

"I know. Isn't it fun? Get in here, loser!"

He heard a softer, slightly deeper voice from inside Lili's room. "Yeah, loser, get in here!"

He almost ran away. It was like two Lilies. He had just been called a loser by two people for the same reason.

"Hey, loser, get in here! I want to see if you're as hot as Lili says!"

He sighed, expecting the worst, and entered the room.

He was bombarded by black walls, rock star posters, and things that only girls would ever put together. One of those things was a little blown glass bottle, one of the ones used for perfume, on Lili's dresser. He couldn't tell if there was anything in it.

"Uh…"

"Lili, you said he's hot. How can you tell? Ooh! Have you seen him shirtless?"

"No, Zig, I have _not_ seen him shirtless, but he _is_ one heckuva kisser! And he saved both of us when part of Thorny Tower fell on us. He's a Psychonaut, too."

"Oh my god! Your boyfriend is a Psychonaut! But he's only ten!"

"Yep! Raz is the youngest Psychonaut in, like, ever."

"You suck. I don't even have a boyfriend. I think that Josh guy likes me, though."

"The weird one in your pyro class?"

"Yeah, the platinum blonde one."

Raz was getting really bored. "Uh, can I go now?"

"Sure. Don't get lost!"

"Later, dorkface!"

Raz left. The room was… well, it was creepy, and two Lilies was a creepy idea. He walked back across HQ, looking for Sasha's room. He knew the number because it was all posted on the directory. People didn't usually mess with the Psychonauts. He looked at the big map. Room 224. He went to the second floor of Psychonaut rooms, and had just about gone in a complete circle by the time he found 224.

Sasha's room was decorated in much the same way as his lab back at Whispering Rock: Geometrically. There was a constant stainless steel theme throughout the whole place, a couple of completed (or maybe unstarted) rubix cubes on his (cube-shaped) nightstand. Also some books on scientific formulas and stuff. The lighting was about the same as in Raz's own room, but it fit in this place. At first, it looked like the colors that there were were tacky and in bad taste, but the Raz remembered that Sasha was colorblind. That was one of the stories Milla had told him: the first time that Sasha had explored her mind, the sudden rush of colors had made him colorblind everywhere but in his own mind.

So, Raz went back to his own room. He did have some stuff that he'd brought from home for the weeks (and hopefully even years) that he'd expected to spend at Whispering Rock. He had a circus poster, (he didn't even know why) and he had… well, that was it. But at least it was something!

Now all he needed were thumbtacks.

Yeah, Zig is kind of a freak. And so is Lili. And frankly, I hate the pics of Lili with short hair, but other people like them, so I actually had her consider it. Short-haired Lili sucks about as much as Dart. Dart is the original main character, and he had one of those hats that looks like a really long sock. I think that's in some of the original art, too.

To Sun: Thanx 4 the fanmail!

To everyone who read Academy and was waiting because I said "I have big plans for Raz and Lili," you should read Sam x Linda. It's about what was really happening when Sasha was talking to Linda, and it's probably the only fanfic between Linda and Mr. Pokeylope on the whole site!


	3. Lead

Chapter 3: Lead

Yeah I had writer's block all day, now I'm gonna start with something my sister noticed (she's played it 2 or 3 times) that really needs to be explained. Actually, there are two things, but I can't put in the second thing until Raz sees Lili again. Which happens early, so whatever.

And I keep getting mail about how Lili wouldn't call Raz a loser, dork, or dorkface. I think she would. I revised it a little though, and took out one of the times she says "dork." I switched it to "Raz."

Raz was about to take his key out of his pocket when he realized something. He ran back to Milla's room, jumping just before he got to her door to stop himself.

Of course, it was a burst-into-the-room-and-blurt-out-whatever-you-want-to-say kind of entrance.

"Sasha! Didn't you say you knew who was behind the kidnapping?"

"Yes, I did. Unfortunately, by the time we'd gotten to HQ, the traces had been proven false. Whoever did this, they're very intelligent."

"Oh… Okay. Sorry, guys." He left, feeling fairly embarrassed. A couple Psychonauts, who appeared to have come from the same area where his room was, passed him, giving him weird looks.

The next morning, or maybe that night, (he couldn't tell because he didn't even have a window) Lili was hammering at his door (they made the doors really strong, to resist the TK hands that some Psicadets accidentally used) and yelling, "GET UP, RAZ! THEY HAVE A LEAD! WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIND MY DAD!"

He didn't know what time it was (he hadn't been supplied with a clock of any kind) but he was extremely tired. It even took him a minute to realize that, if it was actually morning, it would be Sunday. The circus workers slept in on Sunday.

"RAZ, YOU DORKFACE! GET THE HECK UP!"

"What time is it!"

Oh, come _on_, Raz, it's already four!

_Only two hours before I usually get up_ passed through his mind, but he didn't care. He got dressed sluggishly, then went to the door.

"Raz! _Finally!_ Come on! They think they might know who has my dad!"

She darted into his room and searched… for something…

"It's too early to hear your voice."

"Shut up, Raz. You're starting to sound like Sasha."

"It's too early for this."

She found whatever she'd been looking for, something… dark… fabric-ish…

"No, it's way too late. Now _come on_!" She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out of his room. If he had been awake then, his eyes probably would have bugged out. As it was, he was one tiny step closer to being awake.

_Too late?_ _It's too early to think. How can she say it's too late?_

"Because they should've figured it out yesterday."

"Unh… How do you keep reading my thoughts? Oleander couldn't even do that."

"Dude. I've kissed you. Twice. I know all the little twists, turns, and loops in your mind. Duh."

"Oh."

"Come _on_!"

He now had to run to keep up with her, and given that he wasn't a morning person, especially at 4 AM, it wasn't a fun experience. Colors and shading kind of… blurred, and even when they got to where Sasha and Milla were standing, he didn't even register that Milla was there for a minute (she was wearing he uniform) and he only saw Sasha because his glasses were shiny and his skin was a pale shade of green.

"We're here, Raz. You can stop running now."

"Oh, uh, I knew that!"

"Right. Come on, LET'S GO!"

He was slightly awake when they left, enough so that he realized that coffee might not taste bitter and disgusting at 4 AM when you'd been woken up to Lili's voice. Heck, adults (especially Sasha) drank it all the time. Until this morning, he hadn't realized why it might ever seem appealing.

"Uh, Raz, the jet is right here. It might be time to get your levi-ball out and go back to the top opening."

Fortunately for Sasha and Milla, there was a lot of Psitanium as an actual part of the jet. It, like Milla's bracelet and earrings, held telekinesis for a long, long time. In basic terms, the jet was thrown from one place to another. Except that these were Psychic experts powering the jet, so that it stayed at the same altitude.

Raz couldn't think for about five minutes. When he could think, it registered as a clear thought, not a constant urge, that he wanted to go to sleep.

"Well, too bad. We're finding my dad, and soon we'll be… well, relatively near the place we're going. But it's gonna be soon!

"Ugh. Would you stop reading my mind?"

"Sorry. My mind is way faster than it usually is. My mind is bored, if that makes any sense."

"My mind is slush."

"No it isn't. It's sludge. Sludge moves faster than slush, because slush is more liquid than sludge."

"Thank you, darling, but we don't need to know the difference. The jet's going to be landing soon." Milla hadn't been in that room a minute ago, and now she was. It took a minute for Raz to realize that. That's how tired he was. One night, he'd been up until morning, then last night he'd been woken up at four. He had to start getting some sleep.

"WE'RE HERE! WE'RE HERE! WE'RE HERE!"

"Lili, darling, shush! You don't want them to hear you, do you? Now, everyone, remember to guard. Have your shields ready, and your invisibility. Be ready for anything. I'll be lookout, since I can levitate best, Sasha's good at mental focusing, so he'll be targeting anything that moves, and you and Razputin will…?"

"We generalize. Heck, I'm not even supposed to be here. I wouldn't count on Raz doing much of anything, though. He still isn't awake."

"Oh, dear. Well, uh… I suppose a couple of minutes won't change much. They've held him for two days already, a couple minutes to force some coffee into him won't change Truman's experience."

"Hey, Sasha! You cot any more cans of espresso up there?"

"He always does, darling. They're in the glove compartment."

"'Kay! Thanks, Milla!"

Raz, of course, had not heard any of the conversation between Lili and Milla, as he had already fallen asleep.

Hey sorry if you like coffee, it's way too bitter for me. I just realized, at the beginning of the game, Oleander thought Raz's name starts with a "D." The original main character was called "Dart." I wonder if it's a coincidence…

Anyway, thanx 4 the suggestions! Hope I get more soon, and I really hope I get good ideas for names. I couldn't even come up with a decent name for Lili's roommate.

And don't expect an update tomorrow because a) it's a school day, and b) I'm gonna be revising chap. 2. By the way, it's called "Zig" because I suck at chapter titles, and that was the best name I could think of.


	4. Rescue

Chapter 4: Rescue

Yeah, I took a break. I didn't do any typing last night or this morning. I was going to this morning, but then I just decided to play Psychonauts (I'm playing it a second time, even though I never beat the Meat Circus) and I'm at the part where I have to beat the Rainbow Squirt Den Mother and free the Milkman. Or, at least (because I like to think in advance) it was while I was typing this.

To Violetwich if you read this too: Thanx 4 the Sam x Linda review if you're reading this, but it doesn't matter if you get to Level 100 because the skit is REALLY dumb. It isn't worth trying that hard just to get there. Seriously.

So, if you need a recap (I think I might) Raz is asleep, it's about 4:30 (or maybe a little later. I don't know.) and Lili just yelled for one of Sasha's cans of espresso to wake up Raz. How she uses it, however, is questionable…

New disclaimer: I don't own any internet sites. Nor do I own any Shakira songs. (I just found out that "Whenever, Wherever" is a Shakira song. Isn't it cool? I also think she's the next Britney Spears, but with emotion. Ah, well…)

Raz awoke to liquid being poured on his head. Not much liquid, just a little.

"Drink this." It was the voice of… Lili. Lili was handing him something… something cold… smooth… His eyes focused for half a moment.

"Very funny, Lili. Now, let me sleep. And don't pour coffee on my head again, or I'll set your hair on fire."

He went back to sleep.

"RAZ! WAKE UP!"

"Ugh… Okay, I'm almost awake. What do you want?"

"Drink the espresso or we'll leave you here and blame you if we don't find my dad."

Bitter as it was, bad as it tasted, Raz had to admit that it made him feel good. Milla and Lili both thought it made him hyper. Sasha's coffee was Sasha-strength, not ten-year-old-who-never-drinks-coffee strength. Sasha had been known to drink a large mug of pure espresso and still be a little bit sleepy. Raz, however, was over-hyper.

"I'm sorry, Lili, darling. I forgot to tell you to measure the chemicals."

"They should have warnings on those little cans."

A deep voice came from behind them, surprising them both. "I don't see why. It's just coffee. He just reacts strongly to it."

Without turning around, Milla said, in that near-distracted way that she had, "Sasha, darling, you're a caffeine addict. Now, what's the cure?"

"I don't have one. I never needed one."

Lili's sarcasm, which always came before anger, kicked in. "Sasha, that was dumb. You'd better come up with an antidote, NOW, because then we can find my dad." She was silently fuming.

"There's only one way to get off caffeine. Just wait. Then he'll crash. That's what happens when you have too much coffee."

sigh "I guess we'll just have to find my dad without him."

"Or he could be bait, to distract them."

"Sasha, darling, do you remember what I did when that child got stuck in the GPC?"

"Yes."

"Imagine that, except that I actually _do_ get through your shield. I have claws, Sasha, and Raz is too young and hyperactive to be bait for kidnappers."

"It was just a suggestion. I thought – Lili, is that your cell phone?" There was the tune of "Whenever, Wherever" coming from Lili's hip.

"Yeah." Lili went to answer her cell phone. From the things she said, it was probably Zig. Why Zig would be up at 5:00 was beyond either Sasha or Milla, but by the time Lili was off her phone, Raz was in the beginning stages of calming down.

Lili's shrill voice sounded over Sasha's and Milla's thoughts. "Guys, I never told you this, but I can teleport. I think I might be able to teleport all three of you with me."

"Why isn't it registered, darling?"

"Because I'm my dad's daughter already, and teleportation is the most unusual skill in all of the Psychic world. Just think of how many more people I would be the hero of. I already have fanboys. It's disgusting. You have a connection to one person, or maybe you have a skill or something, and suddenly you're idolized by half a million people. One of my friends said someone's MySpace is about me. I haven't gone there yet, but I am _sooooo_ angry at whoever did it. If I ever meet them in real life, they're dead."

Ignoring that last bit, staying on her usual, cheery note, Milla said, "Okay, darling. We're trusting you with our physical mass. Is that okay with you, Sasha? Raz?"

"Why didn't you tell us, Lili?"

"Oh, _come on! _ You're completely into regulations, and Milla's hardly guarded. She's too nice to be guarded. I hardly know Raz, except for his personality and that he grew up in a circus as an acrobat. And that he's a good kisser."

"That's kind of a lot to know about me, Lili. And I can't believe you gave me a can of espresso."

"Let's just get on with it. Everyone okay with letting me transport their physical form?"

She got multiple replies that all meant "Yes," and in about half a second, they were about one-sixteenth of a mile from the building they were trying to get to. They walked the rest of the way there (they didn't want to appear suspicious) and entered invisibly. They blocked their thoughts from their minds, saw (and felt) that no one was there, and turned visible. They were all amazed that the one and only Truman Zanotto, Head of the Psychonauts (and the World Psychics Organization) was so loosely guarded. They searched the building and found him in about a minute (how easy can it be to conceal a full-grown man?) and unbound him, freeing him from the hat- and poncho-shaped Psychic Deteriorators. The Deteriorators, of course, weren't strong enough to break down his psychic abilities. They couldn't do that and live if they were found out. Instead, the devices simply blocked Truman's abilities to engage in Psychic activity and kept him from moving much. His ankles, of course, were also bound, but not so extensively.

"Daddy!" Lili ran up to her father and hugged him, not caring that other people were watching her display strong emotions.

"Ohmygod!Dad!I'msogladtoseeyou!Iwassoworried!I'msohappyyou'resafe!Ohmygod!Wehavesomuchtocatchupontoo!"

That last… I guess it's a word (I had to force myself to keep from putting in spaces) can be roughly translated into, Lili's glad that Truman's safe, she has to tell him stuff, he has to tell her stuff, and he has to tell her stuff.

Milla, Sasha, and Raz were staring at the pair, specifically Lili. Raz especially. This was the girl who had snapped at him for looking at her while she was in Oleander's mind for Basic Braining. She was now hugging someone like she never wanted to let go and was maybe one or two minutes away from tears.

"Okay, darlings, let's go."

That tweaked something in Raz's mind. "Uh, maybe not. If there's one thing I learned at summer camp, you have to stick around."

"Raz, darling, Sasha and I have dealt with things of this magnitude before. So has Truman, and Lili has heard accounts of them from her father. If we leave until the kidnappers get back and come in here, then we'll have them cornered. It's really the easiest way, darling. They won't be able to run out of any sort of door, because we'll be standing in front of the only one. There is only one door, is there not, Truman, darling?"

"Definitely. This place isn't that much more than an apartment, if you hadn't noticed." Truman Zanotto had a medium voice, for a man, and it was definitely higher than Sasha's. He spoke in a very frank manner and seemed like the sort of person who would get strait to the point, no matter what subject he was talking about.

"Yes we had, sir. Is this going to be like in True Psychic Tales #495, when Agent Kim used her TK with her martial arts moves and beat up the guys, then –"

"No, real life isn't like that. True Psychic Tales is a series of amusing stories created to entertain the public and educate them on the uses of various Psychic powers. Very few of the stories in there are true. There are as many true True Psychic Tales stories as there are life-threatening or interesting Psychonaut missions. Most of those missions are contained and kept under high security by the government, so the True Psychic Tales writers get together with a couple of Psychonauts and look at how those psychonauts would react to the storyline they've already come up with."

"Oh."

Sasha's voice came then. "Time to turn invisible. They're coming back."

The five all got as close to the door as they could, levitating of course, since Lili had taught Raz how to invisibly levitate on the jet to D.C. He had simply chosen to look like a Psycadet so that there wasn't some sort of uproar when people found out that the Psychonauts were admitting ten-year-olds. Fortunately, he remembered now.

Finally, they heard the door creak open. They all turned invisible and waited for the door to close. Sasha got in front of the door. As if by some unspoken signal, they all became visible, and Truman caught one of the people while Milla caught the other.

"You are under arrest for kidnapping of the head agent of the Psychonauts. You did a good job, by the way. I still haven't fully recovered my mental power. Agent Nein, would you mind locking their wrists?"

"Certainly." Bright blue loops formed around the peoples' wrists, then locked together.

"Where'd you guys park the jet?"

"I don't know, darling. Lili, where did we teleport from?"

"Thataway." Lili, in her usual, take-charge way that said "I don't care about you, but I'm going back to the jet," trudged out the door of the small entrance room.

The others followed, none of them having a clue where the heck Lili was going.

Meanwhile, Truman was mad at her. She was walking forward, emotionless, and he was blowing up. Quietly, of course. They didn't want anyone else to hear.

"You used your teleportation to take not only yourself, but also three other people, five miles through brick walls! What were you thinking, Lili!"

"I was thinking I wanted my father back, and we didn't have any time to spare. Do you know how long it takes to levitate and run five miles through a city? Not to mention that we make kind of a noticeable group, dressed in our Psychonaut uniforms."

"You don't have a uniform."

"I filched Raz's spare." She looked over her shoulder. "That's why I was digging around in your room. Thanks, Raz!"

"Eww! A _girl_ is wearing my clothes!"

"Shut up, sexist. It isn't like I own any completely black stuff, and the only black stuff Zig owns are her dresses, which would be inconvenient if I had to levitate, with you and Sasha being on this trip, so I had to borrow your uniform. It's not like I wanted to or anything. It doesn't fit me."

"They don't fit anyone, Lili. They just make good cover. Now, back to the matter of you teleporting three foreign bodies along with yourself. I'm not familiar with the official punishment, but along with that, you're grounded for two weeks. No radio, CDs, tapes, or luxury electronics, and you can't go to any gatherings other that classes and necessary meetings."

"Dad, I'm absolutely overjoyed to have you back, but that just isn't fair."

"Actually, it is. You know that you were supposed to register as a Teleporter two years ago."

"It slipped my mind?"

"_Lili…_"

"Okay! Jeez. I use my skills to rescue my dad, and what do I get? Two weeks grounding, plus official punishment, which is always magnified by the number of foreign bodies, so by now I've got the rest of my life planned out: serving this punishment."

"Lili…"

"And I can't even wallow in superficial self-pity without my own dad interrupting me. We're here."

They had arrived at the jet. All five levitated up and into the psitanium-powered vehicle, the three senior agents powered it, and the cadet and young psychonaut went into the other room (there are two rooms! Isn't it great? Not including the bathroom, of course.) to… well, hang.

"Your dad is harsh."

"Tell me about it. He makes me practice all of my skills for an hour every day, even if I've got so much homework I can't get to bed until ten anyway. Do you want to know why? Because it isn't his fault! Then if I say I'm too tired to focus, he won't take that as an answer, he just says maybe if I practice while my mind is sludge, I'll be better when I'm normal. Then he complains if I do badly in school, even though he keeps me from studying sometimes, with his stupid "You're psychic, it's a wonderful gift, now shut up and practice." It's so _dumb_! But he really does love me. It's just, his parents kind of hated him as a kid, they were some of the ones who were afraid of psychics, so he thinks I should treat it like some wonderful thing. But it's a gift I didn't ask for! I know he didn't either, but he didn't have to do the stuff he makes me do!

"I guess it's okay though. I mean, I _am_ more advanced than any of the other kids my age. That's why I look forward to summer camp. I can just run around, meditate, and chase people around. Except it felt kind of bad when Elton just posted that he was breaking up with me. He didn't even tell me. Then I met you. You're almost as good as I am."

"I guess it would've been kind of bad if you'd been taken into the Bran Tank, huh?"

"Yup."

Awkward silence.

"Raz?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go to sleep. My mind's tired."

"You hardly did anything, though."

"I teleported five miles, with you, Sasha, and Milla, through brick buildings. It took awhile, but I'm tired now. Plus I don't have any of the adrenaline anymore."

"Oh… yeah… I know that feeling. It's like when I was performing in front of all these important people, and I _really_ didn't want to screw up, and then when I was done I was still kind of pumped, and then a couple minutes later, I just kind of crashed."

"Yeah. Like you with the coffee."

"Okay. Let's go to sleep."

Before either of them could get to sleep, however, they heard Milla's voice.

"Children! We're back!"

"Huh? But we just…"

"When there are three people instead of just two, it's way faster! Duh! Now come on, dorkface! Let's get out of here!"

"Lili! What did I tell you about calling the other kids names?"

"He's not a kid! He's a psychonaut! He can handle it!"

"She calls – mmph!" Lili's hand covered his mouth.

"Shut up, Raz! I'm already grounded for two weeks! Do you want to get me in trouble again!" Raz reddened a little, and was thankful that, to everyone except for Lili, his mind was impenetrable.

Lili's hand came off of his mouth. "Oh, uh, I guess not. Sorry, Lili."

"Darlings! No time to waste! We have to get these people to the Psychic Council!"

The Psychic Council, Raz remembered from True Psychic Tales #162, was like a court, but for Psychics. They made the judgements on matters that involved significant amounts of psychic activity.

The two children levitated out of the jet. The criminals were suspended in front of the adults, but Raz could (finally) go to bed. He hadn't done anything. Sasha had guarded the door, Milla and Truman had held the criminals, and Lili had teleported them and taken them back to the jet. Raz himself hadn't done anything of significance.

Small and ugly as it was, the bed in Raz's room felt completely wonderful. He had woken up at 4 the day after Summer Camp ended, which was also the night he hadn't gotten any sleep, then he had crashed from a can of Sasha's espresso, and he was TIRED!

He heard a knock on his door. He was awake, and he heard a deep voice from his door.

"Razputin? It's time for you to learn about banking accounts."

He rolled over and looked at his watch. It was 1:07.

"Why? And why the heck did you wake me up?"

"I figured you'd be awake by now. It's been eight hours. The point is, you're getting paid to go on missions, and you need a banking account for the Psychonauts to deposit the money into your account."

"Oh. Just a minute!" For the second time that day, Raz got out of bed, dressed, and answered his door.

"Can't they just give it to me in cash?"

"It would be against protocol."

"Oh. So protocol doesn't make any exceptions for kids who need to catch up on two days of sleep?"

"No."

I kept thinking I was going to finish it soon, then I finally had to force myself to stop. Lili isn't coming up (except maybe in his mind) for a couple more chapters, because she's grounded. That's just so no one's complaining next chapter when they don't do anything together. Truman can't legally bind her psychic powers unless she's insane, which we all know she isn't. That was never mentioned in anything, but it makes sense.

If anyone has any ideas for Can and Can't Change, I need them. I have the worst case of writer's block ever, and you know I'll mention it was your idea, but I really need your help. According to my friends I need a counselor's help to get over my Psychonauts addiction, but I want this kind of help.


	5. Broadcasting

Chapter 5: Broadcasting

ALL of this chapter just got erased! No getting it back! Sorry I took like two days off, but on Friday I had girl scouts, ate dinner, then went to the eighth grade performance of Bye Bye, Birdie (I have the "We love you Conrad" song stuck in my head now) then I went to sleep. This morning, I went to the Girl Scout Silver Career Award thing. It was held in a church. Two of the sessions I went to were in the chapel. I'm a Buddhist. It was kind of… intimidating. It's gonna be Sunday by the time I post this. It's Saturday now, though. Oh, and Lili's dad is NOT evil. Super-heckuv-bummer about the file, though, because I had, like, tons of stuff.

You'll learn about broadcasting, too. If I didn't mention it in the last chapter, broadcasting is when you take your thought and send it to someone else's head, like when Sasha repeated the phrase "Sometimes, isolation is a good thing. It can lead to… (I forget what kind of) possibilities." In Raz's head.

He was thinking about random stuff when he heard a very soft voice in his head. It was the voice of Lili.

_Hey, Raz, you up yet? If you are, then look outside your door and send Zig back. And, by the way, if you don't learn broadcasting soon, you won't be my boyfriend anymore._

He opened his door. Sure enough, there was Zig. He felt her entering the part of his mind that controlled sight. It was okay, though, because that was how she saw.

"I hate how you think of me like that. I just like black, okay? I think it looks good on me! I'm not some emo goth! Jeez! Can't a person be quiet and like black without being depressed!"

"I… uh… Is that better?"

"Yeah. Just remember, dorkface, Lili isn't into depressed people."

"O…kay."

"Bye, then."

"'bye, Zig!"

A couple minutes later, he heard Lili's voice, but much stronger, in his head. _Sorry about that. Zig just doesn't expect people she knows to think of her like that. At least, she thought you knew her. Apparently, you don't. Anyway, don't act bummed about my being grounded. I can get out of the building with a kitchen magnet, I can use Zig's account on the computer, and my dad knows it. All I have to worry about is the punishment for using my teleportation skills. And don't think they make exceptions for age! When I was seven, I had to stay in a GPC for a week for using mental blocks that hurt someone! Not like I knew any better! Oh, well. And Professor Meier teaches telepathy. Second door on your left down the stairs in the entrance area. Later, dorkface!_

That was getting annoying. All these girls were reading his mind.

He went to the entrance area, walked down the stairs, and went until he saw a door on his left that said "Telepathy A."

_Go away. Come back tomorrow, or the next day. I don't have time for extra-curricular activities now. I'm grading finals._

He opened the door. "Hey! Don't read my mind! I'm getting really mad because all of these… females are reading my mind!"

"It's my job to read minds. Now, go away." She sounded amazingly like Betty in Gloria's mind. The exasperation, everything.

"I want to learn broadcasting."

"I'm not teaching you so you can talk to your little girlfriend. Plus, I'm grading the summer Finals."

"I'll help you. They look like multiple-choice."

"Yeah. I guess… Oh, whatever. Make yourself a hole-punch graph and maybe I'll finish tomorrow."

"Okay!"

He took the hole punch on her desk and punched out little circles of paper exactly the same as hers.

"Okay. Mark them wrong if the circle isn't marked. On the ones with 2 circles, either are right. And if you don't give me Lili's, you're dead."

They finished before dinner.

"Okay, run along. I want dinner. It's gonna be past your bedtime by the time we're done with that."

"When should I come by tomorrow?"

"Darn it! You remembered. I'm not teaching you so you can talk to your little girlfriend while she's grounded."

He thought about that.

"Are you a Psychonaut?" He knew that not all of the teachers were. Some of them were in the last year of their training and needed to make money.

"Yeah, that's why I have such a sucky job. Of course I'm not a Psychonaut!"

"Well, then I outrank you. You have to teach me broadcasting."

"Okay. There is no way that you are a psychonaut."

"Actually, I am." He dug around in his backpack, producing his new, laminated card. "See?"

"Wow. I'm impressed. I guess I have to teach you. And I was hoping for a quiet Monday…"

"So… in the afternoon?"

"3:00, sharp. Oh, and would you tell Milla I'm done with her yoga tape? I didn't have to read your mind to know you know her, by the way. Sometimes we chat together."

"Okay!" He ran to the big cafeteria-structure, got dinner, and was looking around for Milla (honestly, who would ever be able to find Sasha in a government building?) when he heard her voice from his head. _Look up, darling._ He did. She was waving at him.

Now, remember that this is a building made for Psychonauts. They had a level on the ceiling, and various small platforms in the walls for Psicadets who didn't know advanced levitation. Also remember that Lili had taught Raz advanced levitation. He rose straight up, a little forward, and there he was.

"What's up, darling?" She waited for him to sit down. He sat across from her and Sasha.

"Stuff. I'm getting Professor Meier to teach me broadcasting."

Shasha looked startled, or surprised, or something. "Meier isn't a Psychonaut yet."

"She's one of the best at telepathy, darling." Milla turned back to Raz. "She's supposed to be very good, darling. I'm sure you'll learn in no time."

It seemed like she was hiding something.

"Milla? Are you –"

"I'm not telling you, darling. I just can't. Sasha, you tell him."

"You spoke to Lili earlier."

"Yeah?"

"She's grounded. She isn't allowed to talk to or communicate with anyone."

"She said her dad knows and he's fine with it, and it's just formal. She also said she's only afraid of the official punishment. Now that I think of it, she sounded a little scared. Not really scared, though. It wasn't even noticeable."

Apparently, Milla gained courage in that couple of seconds, because she said, "Darling, you should know. You won't be talking to her for at least two weeks. She's in a… Well, she's in a different state than usual."

"What did they do to her!"

"Darling, it's nothing to be alarmed about –"

"What did they do with Lili!"

Milla glared at him, mad at being interrupted when she was trying to tell him what was happening. It was, instead, Sasha who answered his question.

"The punishment for teleportation on its own, unlicensed, is three days in psychoisolation. With someone else, it's a week. With two people, it's ten days and a slight mind scramble. With three people, it's two weeks and a slight mind scramble. That's for under four miles. Psychonaut jets are supposed to land a minimum of five miles away from any place where they might cause harm. That's for the amount of psitanium. Lili Zanotto will be in psychoisolation for two and a half weeks, and during that time, her mind will be scrambled."

"That's horrible!"

"That's protocol."

"Darling, we're to blame. We let her."

"Then why aren't you in psychoisolation or whatever!"

"Do you know how hard it is, darling, to stand up and say that you want to go into psychoisolation and scrambling? Lili's father has taught her how to make it less painful. She can pull herself into her own mind and just stay there for two and a half weeks. Plus, she can reorganize and make everything the way she wants them to be. Did you know that while your mind isn't focusing on your body, you don't need food, water, or anything else? When your body doesn't function, all it needs is a decent climate."

"That's still mean to do to Lili."

"Listen, darling, she won't feel it! She's above their punishment! She doesn't have to care! She has figured out how the system works and is ripping it up from the inside!"

"Oh. Wait… Why didn't you tell me about the trial?"

"You had other matters, darling. We didn't go, either. As far as they were concerned, we were flying the jet while all this was going on."

"Oh. Okay. So, Mr. Zanotto's okay with this, too?"

"Did he send for us during the trial, darling?"

"Oh. Okay. Can I have my chicken/rice sludge?"

"Yes, darling."

Okay. Kinduva sucky chapter, and it was way better the first time, but I think it's kinduv okay. I think Milla's out-of-character at the end, but it's the easiest way to tell Raz the story. It isn't like I can have Sasha saying that stuff. And Milla doesn't say so, but she feels really, really guilty.

I'm working on my programming skills. I copied some cursors, backgrounds, and all that junk onto a document on Word. I still don't know how to compile it, but that's what I'm going to figure out.


	6. Fighting Demons

Chapter 6: Fighting Demons

Yeah last chapter kind of sucked. But at least the story was good! I hope. So anyway, please review!

_Hey! Raz! I have time! Get the heck over here!_

He sighed and jump-and-floated (he wasn't really comfortable with the new kind of levitation) to the stairs near the entrance of the building. He knew that voice, and Professor (or perhaps intern) Meier didn't seem that patient to him. He was happy, though, because it was going to be his very first broadcasting lesson. It wasn't the sort of thing you could just learn. Why did everything seem so much easier at summer camp?

He was there.

"Okay. So, do you know how telepathy works?"

"Uh… I thought broadcasting was part of telepathy."

"No, but they're kind of related, so they're grouped together."

"Oh. Actually, I don't know."

"I thought you were the True Psychic Tales fanatic. In #3, Sasha Nein learns telepathy from Clavd, who –"

"Swedish Secret Agent Clavd? The one who –"

"Yes, the one no one who no one suspected because it's kind of an oxymoron, and all that scandal stuff. But that's not what we're talking about today. That was the edition where it explained telepathy. Telepathy is going just past the first layer of censors and listening to someone else's thoughts or emotions in your head."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, broadcasting is the exact opposite. It's taking a thought from your own mind and forcing it into someone else's head."

"So just, like, think of something, and give it to someone else?"

_You could put it that way._ She smiled at him.

_Actually, Meier, I get it now. Sorry to spoil your fun._

She gave him a dry glare. He smiled sweetly and innocently, and with most of those other dumb adjectives that they usually use to describe children. Of course, "they" was usually wrong, but that didn't matter. The only thing he had that "they" doesn't usually have was sarcasm.

"Okay, sixth grader. Go away now. Lunch break is almost over."

"Okay. Bye, Professor Meier!"

"Bye, Raz! Oh, and did you tell Milla about the yoga tape?"

"Oh! I forgot! I'll go tell her right now!"

"Thanks!"

Raz: _Hey, Milla!_

Milla: _Raz, darling? You can broadcast already?_

Raz: _Yeah! Isn't it cool?_

Milla: _Yes, darling! Do you have anything else to tell me?_

Raz: _Yeah. Professor Meier's done with your yoga tape._

Milla: _Floating Yoga for Beginners? Is that the one, darling?_

Raz: _I guess._

Milla: _Okay. Thank you darling. I'll come by and pick it up later._

He felt her focus shifting from him to Professor Meier, who was right next to him. Now he had to talk to Zig.

Raz: _Zig! Do you know how to broadcast?_

_Duh! Is this about Lili?_

_What else? She's in psychoisolation!_

_Not really. Actually, she's in her mind. She can go anywhere in her collective unconscious. Oh!_

_What? Is something wrong?_

_No, dorkface, it's just that she just came into my mind. It feels really weird, if you didn't know yet._

_Oh. No, I actually didn't. Uh, how could I get into your collective unconscious? There isn't any room left in mine, so I can't get any more doors._

_Uh… Maybe… If you went into Milla's mind, her mind should connect with Sasha Nein's and I know Lili's been in his mind for advanced training in Mental Focusing. Actually, a lot of kids have been in his mind for basic training in shooting because sometimes he subs for the teacher._

_Oh. Well, I actually went in his advanced training at summer camp. I have him in my collective unconscious._

_Yeah, I know, but do you honestly think he'd let you in just so you could spend a coupe minutes with your girlfriend in her mind, when she's supposed to be in psychoisolation? Milla's nice. Sasha plays by the rules. Deal with it._

_Oh. Yeah. Huh. I guess I'd better go talk to Milla then, huh?_

_Yeah. I'd offer, but I don't have a psychoportal._

_I do! I filched it from Sasha's lab when he and Milla got taken across the lake. He forgot to ask for it back._

_Oh. I guess you'd better get over here, then._

_Okay! Just wait a minute. I have to get all the way across the building, so it could take a minute._

_Countdown begins now. 45… 44… 43… 42… 41…_

He reached the room that she normally shared with Lili right when she said _four_ in his head. "I wouldn't have done anything to you if you hadn't gotten here before the countdown was over. You knew that, right? That's why I didn't threaten you."

"Oh. Uh, yeah, I knew that."

"Right. Let's just do this."

"Sure."

He TK'd the psychoportal onto her forehead, pulled down his goggles because they looked cool, and entered the mind of someone with a way of seeing that was slightly parasitic.

The world in Zig's mind was… black. He saw a sparkling object that looked like a cassette tape. He switched Clairvoyance to one of his preselected powers, so that he had it ready. He used clairvoyance on the tape. There were three vaults that he could see from where he was standing. Suddenly, he heard Zig's voice coming from the air around him. It was different, though. Enthusiastic, not bored.

"Hello, this is the mind of Amelia Easter Johnson, but you'll call me Zig if you care about your life. I don't care about you enough to make a mental projection of myself for your enjoyment, so you'll have to navigate around my mind your own way. If you punch any of the vaults, I'll push you out of my mind, hack out your guts with a chainsaw, dissect your brain, and teleport all of your parts to the middle of the Sahara Desert. I'm registered as a Teleporter, and since I warned you in advance, and since my requests are simple and easy to do, my actions if you should happen to punch any of my vaults are perfectly legal by Psychonauts regulations. Have a great time in my mind!"

Raz paused. It was Zig… but happy. Or enthusiastic, at least. Wow.

A second later, an image of Zig flickered in front of him, then solidified.

"D'you like the recording?"

"It's certainly, uh, you. Why is your nickname –"

"I keep trying to punch the vaults, but I'm short and I can't catch up with them. I know what you're thinking, and yes, it's very obvious, but I'm not that good at precision levitation. I can go in a straight line, and I can go out of control, and I can float, but that's just about it. There's no in between for me."

"I could get them and give them to you without looking at them."

"Okay, sure. I've still got some personal demons to clear up, so meet me at the other side, and Raz?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll know if you look at any of my reels, and you know you're dead if you do, so don't look at them. It would be a pity if I had to kill you. You're actually a decent person."

"Oh. I've never gotten a threat that was a compliment before."

"What did you expect me to say? 'You're too hot to kill'? you should know me better than that by now."

She disappeared and he knew she was flickering into existence in another part of her mind. Now, he just had to get those vaults.

Near the end of Zig's mind, he saw her battling a… what was that thing? It was… he used clairvoyance on the friendship bracelet next to him.

It was some demon-woman, probably blown out of proportion. Very real here, though.

"Raz, if you help me fight her, I'll hate you forever. This is my own battle to fight."

He understood. He ran around and freed up some mental health for her to use.

Then he went back. He was pretty sure… yep, there was a cobweb. Small, and in a hard-to-reach place, but after he opened it, a piece of mental baggage dropped down. It was surprising, but that was the first piece he had seen in Zig's mind so far. The first cobweb, too. He sorted the duffel, and heard an ear-piercing scream. He assumed that Zig had killed the demon. He went back to that room.

"Thanks for the health. My collective unconscious is over there. It's part of any sane person's mind, but most people hide it away. I don't trust teleport bugs, though. Anything that puts you in a snot bubble, snorts you up its nose, then sends you to someone else, who puts you in another snot bubble definitely isn't worth trusting. Plus, they see everyone as packages. Not even first-class, so I don't trust them."

"That's only gross if you think about it too much. Can you show me which door is Lili's?"

"The black one."

"I should've known. Thanks, Zig!"

"You're forgetting something that's important to your outside survival."

"Oh! Here are the memory reels. Sorry, Zig.

"It's okay. I almost forgot, too. It's amazing how many things can slip your mind when your fighting your mo– your personal demons."

"That was your _mom_!"

"Yeah, but blown out of proportion. She's not that bad in real life." Zig smiled. "Now get out of here before I push you out, and go see your girlfriend!"

Raz knew how good finishing off personal demons could make people feel, since he'd done it for four people, not including himself and Oleander (those were shared demons), so he ran out the rectangular opening in Zig's mind.

He noticed that above each door, there was an object. He didn't see Zig sneak up behind him.

"Those are the things I use to see what each of those people is up to. The real stuff is on my desk. I've gotten some of the stuff in their minds, but not vaults. I just can't do vaults."

"I know. That was weird today, punching that many vaults without looking at them. How many were there, by the way?"

"A lot. More than in most peoples' minds, that's for sure."

"How come you had so many?"

"I'm not good at compressing them. Repressing seems mean, and compressing is hard, especially back when there were so many demons, but if you noticed it, there was a little mini theater in there, so now I can watch the memory slides."

"Oh. Okay."

A second later, Raz was just preparing for Lili's mind when she came flying out of it.

"Stupid personal demons… Oh! Hi, Zig! Hi, Raz!"

She stood up and brushed off her clothes. "Will you two help me fight the Psychonautics Board? I'm having some trouble with it, since it's been in there for three years, and I never noticed the room until today."

"I fought my dad combined with Oleander's dad. I've hated my dad since I was six, and who knows how old Oleander is? We should be able to beat this guy."

"That's the problem. There are thirteen people on the Psychonautics Board. They're all about the same, except for the chairman. He's tough. Could you two kill the twelve while I work on the chairman? Raz, you can shoot six people with one shot, right?"

"Yeah."

"And Zig can read minds. She can slander and make them fight one another."

"Yeah, Raz, I know all about your hydrophobia."

"Hey! Get out of my mind!"

Zig smiled.

"Come on, guys! Let's go! We have to beat these people!"

They followed Lili to a hidden chamber in her mind. It was actually pretty clean. One cobweb, but it would've been really hard to get it, and downright impossible if you weren't skilled in acrobatics. Sure, Lili could levitate as well as a Psychonaut, but in her mind, she knew she was a Psycadet, so that was the lever of skill she had.

They got to the room Lili had told them about. Some of the board members were represented by wild animals, such as the gorilla and the polar bear, some looked like Nightmares, and some looked like monster-censors… He assumed that the robot-censor was the Chairman. Lili made a shield between the kids and the board people.

"Okay. You know what they look like. Raz, you can beat the animals, Zig can feed the censors confusing information, which will explode them, and both of you can fight the Nightmares. I'll go for the chairman. Zig, which Board member do you hate the most, besides the Chairman?"

"Probably that one guy who's always like, 'There are no exceptions! It's psychoisolation for you!' He always gets on my nerves."

"I think he's the… yeah. He's the macho-censor. Raz, do you know any of the Psychonauts Board?"

"I don't like the one who yells."

"That's the polar bear."

"Okay. I'm going for him, anyway."

"Do we have a set plan?"

"Yeah, Lili, we know what to do. Let me get out there and kick some Censor butt!"

"Okay. Get whatever skill you're going to need ready… Okay. Let's go."

They were plunged into chaos. Raz started shooting, starting with the polar bear, but the shots riquocheted off of four other people and stopped at the sixth person. Eventually, Lili joined them. The fight was only about two minutes long, with censors exploding, three people shooting at nightmares, and animals disappearing after falling on the ground.

"Okay. Glad that's over. It was like a boss fight in a videogame, except it hurt. Plus, with boss fights, you don't usually have to fight thirteen people at once. It wouldn't have been hard at all if I'd gotten to fight them in sequence. What were you two doing today?"

"I fought some personal demons. I'm finally over my mom throwing stuff at me and calling me a devil when she found out I was psychic."

"Oh, yeah, 'cause she's Catholic. It's kind of pathetic, isn't it? People know about psychics, and how anyone can be a psychic, and sometimes they don't figure it out until they're twelve, and then everyone's so surprised that, after discommunicating the house down the street because there's a psychic there, their own kid is levitating on a regular basis, reading people's minds, all that stuff. People just have all these secrets they think psychics can get at. It's so _dumb_!"

(Raz)"I think people just don't know what to do with them. I thought my dad was gonna kill me. Then I met him in the brain tank and he said he just couldn't teach me anything, so I think he was just confused."

(Zig)"Oh, yeah, let's all forget my mom. First, I wanted to be Buddhist, so I was sacrilegious, then I was a psychic, so I was an unnatural being, then I got depressed because my mom hated me, so I started wearing black, so I was somehow disrespectful to God. The thing is, every religion, _every single one,_ says at one point or another that you should love and respect everyone for who they are. Love thy neighbor and all that junk, the Buddha saying that everyone deserves an equal chance, every religion says something like that, and then everyone keeps saying how horrible psychics are. We save them from things that they aren't even aware of."

Raz was confused. "So the demon you were fighting earlier was your mom?"

"Yep. What was your demon?"

"Well, the first one wasn't really a demon, just an image of Linda the Lungfish. I've never seen my own mind before without some kind of interference. In the brain tank, though, I had to fight my dad and Oly's dad, so I guess my demon was my dad."

Lili, although in psychoisolation, still took the chance to say, "Great job, loser. You've saved a camp full of kids, three teachers, and the rest of the world, not to mention my dad, and you've never even seen your own mind. That's actually kind of pathetic."

"Thanks, Lili, I feel so much better."

"Well, they'll be coming to feed my body soon. I'd better get back."

"Wait! I have something to give you! I forgot because I only just found it today, but, uh… it isn't from my mind, but, I want you… tohave this flower, that I took from Fred's mind, and dunked in a paint fountain in Edgar's."

"It's sweet, Lili, and he's nervous. Sounds like he _really_ likes you!"

"I knew that Zig. Thanks, Raz! It's really pretty! It's a poppy! Cool. Do you know if it wilts?"

"Uh, no, I don't."

"Too bad I can't take it out of my mind. The cobweb duster only takes cobwebs, right?"

"I think the flower's a little thick for the cobweb duster. Plus, flowers are supposed to be looked at, not woven, and the only thing I've ever hooked the duster up to was a loom."

"Oh. Pity. Then I could tell all my friends that my boyfriend's so sweet, he went to two minds just to get me a cool flower."

"Why do I see another slumber party in your mind?"

"So I can brag to everyone about Raz. I have to go now, though. Sorry. Bye!"

"I didn't know it was normal to talk about someone being nervous in front of them."

"Yeah, normally we'd do that behind your back, but this is a collective unconscious here. Plus, that's what we'd be saying anyway."

"Oh. I never knew girls were so… obsessive."

"At least they don't spend forever in the movies showing about how nervous the guy is that he has to practice what he's gonna say."

"Trust me, that doesn't happen in real life."

"Maybe not to you. They always do it in the chick flicks, though."

Okay, I don't like putting a person's name in parentheses just to show who's talking, but it's really hard to figure out a way to introduce each person as they talk. The Zig as a Buddhist is kind of interesting, though, because that's before when she was emo. Spell-check doesn't like emo. It puts a little zig-zaggy red line under it. It doesn't like zig-zaggy, either. But seriously, if you think about what might have happened , this was just a couple years ago when Zig wanted to do this, then her mom got mad at her, then she found out she was psychic and her mom got even more mad at her, and she probably ran away to a fire station or a friend's house or something. Then she turned emo because (notice that I didn't even put in any mention of her dad in there) her mom couldn't stand her and only other psychics seemed to accept her. I mean, kids are less prejudiced, but I doubt that many of her friends' parents, under this philosophy I've got in this story, would want an untrained psychic in their house. Or a trained psychic, for that matter.

Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I've been doing internet stuff (as in, not typing fanfic) but this chapter's pretty long to make up for it.

I've been thinking of doing a story with 666 paragraphs, or lines, or something like that. Would anyone read it? I. myself, am not Christian, and I take no offense at a number divisible by 2, 3, 6, and 9 (just counting the obvious ones) but I think it would be fun just because it means something to people. It'll be the ushiest, gushiest, sweetest story ever (and hopefully well-written) but I just need and idea. I'm. I'll even post on the preview that it's the one that I wand to have 666 paragraphs. I just want to know if anyone will read it.


	7. Lili

Chapter 7:Lili

That last chapter was actually symbolic. He'd been preparing to see her and it wasn't grand or anything, just a couple of kids chatting about stuff and fighting some inner demons. Then Lili left and they didn't even kiss, which I had hoped they would.

You know how in the chick flicks (like the new version of "Pride and Prejudice") sometimes they have the guy rehearsing what he's going to say to either his bff (which I know isn't a guy-term, but oh, well) or a mirror? Well, on Thursday ('cause it's not Thursday no more) I found out that they actually do that. And I went to my boyfriend's little sister's play with him at his old elementary school, and it's in the same district as my old school, right? First, I was excited, then I was confused (slightly different layout) then I was confused and excited, then we went in the MUR (multi-use room) and I was just ecstatic, because apart from some of the stuff on the walls, it looked EXACTLY THE SAME as the one at my old school. Then the play started and I made Psychonauts references afterward and even though he's never played it he got them. It was fun, and it was my first actual date with him. We've been biking like 5 times and we went walking once when it was too rainy to bike.

So that I don't have to upgrade, I'll put the description of Lili's mind in this chapter. Zig's, too. Her mind was black (as in, completely dark) because that's how she sees the world. That's why you get around using clairvoyance.

He thought about Lili's mind. It (or the part he'd seen) was floored with a sort of springy carpet. Not very springy, just springy enough to get a good, high jump. Or a good, long jump. The levi-ball didn't work well there, but it worked well enough. What were the walls like? He tried to picture the image in his mind. The walls… weren't walls. They were a bamboo forest. Lili was weird. Not like he hadn't known that already.

He was thinking about her because he missed her. He hadn't seen her for a week. First he'd been on a mission, then… well, he'd been busy. He knew what he had to do, though. He called Zig.

_Hey, Zig!_

He was on the outer edges of her mind, so he felt her anger at him. _What the heck! I was just doing yoga. You made me fall down. Now I have to get up off the rug after falling THREE FEET DOWN onto a rug, under which is a HARDWOOD FLOOR!_

_Oh, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to know if you'd take me to Lili's mind again._

_No. Out of the question. It's 4:09. From 3:00 to 4:30 we always meditate and do yoga. Multi-tasking isn't just for the physical world, you know._

_Oh. So, at 5 I could go in your mind and over to Lili's?_

_Yeah, but I wouldn't see why you'd want to. You could just do that at 4:31. Now, get the heck out of my mind, circus freak._

He distinctly felt her break out of their tie. He knew she'd be blocking him after that. Ah, well. He remembered that True Psychic Tales #700 had just come out, so he went to the drugstore to get it. Then, he went to the thrift store to see what stuff might look good in his room. He found a nice sheet set, which I know is weird for a guy to want, but this is a really ugly room he has. And he got a lamp. Lighting makes a room look cheerier, or brighter, or whatever you want it to do. He payed for the items, wished he could teleport, and carried them back to his room, entering in through his window, which he had actually meant to leave open. Not like he had anything worth stealing, anyway.

He decided that he needed a bank account. He had about $200 after buying that stuff, so he either needed a strongbox under his bed or he needed a bank account. He supposed that he'd be in high demand in the future. Not that many people were generalists, surprisingly enough. And who wants to send eight or ten people on a mission when they could just send one or two?

So he went to the bank and tried to set up an account. They couldn't give him either a credit card or a debit card because he was only ten. He showed them his Psychonaut ID and his Psychic Practices permit, which showed that he was capable of making adult decisions, but the bank insisted on being buttmunches, so he went to find a good box with a strong lock.

Eventually, he ended up on e-bay looking for one, because it's amazing how few stores, thrift or otherwise, sell decent strongboxes.

So he'd ordered his box, he had good lighting and new sheets, and he was bored enough to miss Lili again, which had started creeping up on him while he was on e-bay. He looked at the clock. 6:42. It was dinnertime, then he'd find out what Lili's schedule was like.

Zig joined them on the upper levels of the cafeteria and was more than happy (in Zig terms) to tell Raz what Lili's schedule and her schedule was like. She probably wouldn't have, just to be difficult, but she didn't want to be interrupted again. One more week and she'd be free, but she didn't want to spend a week with Raz interrupting her while she was doing stuff.

"So, can I call you while you're having lazing-time, or not?"

"Not. That's when I watch movies or play videogames or read videogame fanfiction, and before that I'm eating frozen strawberries, so while that's the time when I'm least likely to teleport one side of your body to the lowest depths of the ocean and the other half to the Sahara, which I actually might be able to do now, I still don't want to be interrupted from my strawberries or my fanfiction, or my DVD's for that matter, and you don't want to know what I'd do to you if you caught me in a boss fight."

"Oh. So, what if I catch you in between your classes and your room?"

"I teleport back. So does Lili, but she used to keep it secret. Now she's going to be registered, though, so we'll be teleporting back at about the same time after this one week."

"What if, right before you can get to the freezer, I knock on your door?"

"Then you'd be dead anyway, because from when I'm in my room to the time I start my homework is my free time. Then I do homework, which can take anywhere from two minutes to several hours, depending on how much coloring I have, because everyone knows colors hate me, so with Lili gone, I have to try even harder, because Lili's gone now."

"I could be your homework buddy. I have tons of stuff I still have to do."

"That'd be nice. I'm used to reading backwards in peripheral vision, so you don't have to worry about that. What I do in class when we're reading books is, I use clairvoyance on the book and the story goes along just like a movie."

"Oh. I never knew you could use clairvoyance on books."

"Most people don't, but you can. You should try it with Pride and Prejudice. It's _sooo_ sweet. Or maybe since you're a guy you should use it on a dumb guy book, like that stupid comic you bought earlier."

"Hey! Get out of my head!"

"You know I can't help it. I'm already in your mind, so I pick up a little on your subconscious thoughts."

"Let's just eat dinner. Whatever this sludge is, it's got to be better that being embarrassed like that."

"Okay. You should learn about the joy of vegetables. They're served whole."

"Yeah, but they taste bad."

"Smoothies are good, too. There's a good smoothie place somewhere near here."

"Okay."

Dinner passed with idle conversation, they went back to their rooms (Zig teleported herself, but offered Raz no such service) and slept.

_EEEET! EEEET! EEEET! EEEET! EEEET! EE—_ click. Raz's heart rate always rose a little, or at least it seemed like it, when his alarm clock went off. The annoying, unnatural… well, at least it got him up reliably every morning at 6:45. Enough time to do whatever he wanted. He went down to breakfast. Usually, the time it took to eat breakfast made the sludge his mind seemed to be into some sort of recognizable form.

Zig would be at classes, so he went to talk to Milla.

"Certainly, darling. What you need, though, is a psychoportal of your own. You can order one from the Psychic Supplies shop on the second floor."

"Oh. Okay. Sasha never asked me for it back, though, so I've been using it."

"That's theft, darling. Now, get into my mind and I'll open up the door to my collective subconscious."

He used the teleport bugs (he, himself, had no problem with them) to get near the end of the party in Milla's mind, went to the end-room, and the backing of the big float in the middle opened onto Milla's Collective Subconscious. "Don't ask how I know Zig, darling, I just do."

He entered into Zig's mind.

He had to go through Zig's whole mind again because she'd gotten rid of all of her teleport bugs (girls, if you didn't know, often enjoy being difficult for the sake of annoying other people. If you're a girl in middle school, or a guy with a girl friend, you know that) then into Lili's mind, and search for her.

"Get the heck out of my mind, dorkface. If you look at any memories I've missed, or if you pick up any of my cobwebs and don't give me the cards, you're dead. There shouldn't be any baggage, and if there is, tell me, don't give in to your stupid male pride and sort it for me."

It was almost less welcoming than Zig's recorded message.

She materialized in front of him after a second. "What are you doing in my mind, Raz, and why? This is Demon Week, so Zig and I are fighting all the demons we can find, behind walls, in the walls, everywhere. We're pulling them all out from everywhere. I'm not in that good of condition, so unless you have a pocket full of dream fluffs, get out of my mind."

"Okay. Sorry I spoiled your fun." Whenever he saw her, she always disappointed him. Now she didn't care about him at all. It was the worst week of his life.

"Listen, Raz, I don't care about psychoisolation, but it does have effects on me. Mostly that's because a dozen or so minds get boring after awhile. So give me a break, will you? I'm bored, I've been killing things all day, not to mention that those things are part of me, so I'm kind of hurting myself, and I haven't talked to anyone for two days, probably because Zig had a ton of homework that I'm gonna have to make up in the next two and a half weeks, so I'm not going to get enough sleep, and I know Milla feels guilty because she didn't speak up. If you see her after you leave, tell her I don't blame her. I told Zig to tell her, but I don't think they've talked recently."

"Okay. Do you need any help with your demons?"

"No. I've got it under control. I've still got three dream fluffs left."

"Can you make those things that increase your mental projection if it's your own mind?"

"No, that stuff's just based on confidence. If you defeated something and you feel confident, you get those, if you did something hard with confusion grenades, shooting, or love darts, you can get your max ammo up, all that junk. Plus, I've already got all those things."

"Love darts?"

"Yeah. My dad never should've taught me about those. Next year, when Sasha's looking at Milla, I should shoot him with one. They don't make you crazy in love or anything, but they can turn a friendship into a romance, so it's fun to watch the effect.

"That'd be kind of mean, to shoot Sasha with a love dart."

"Yeah, but it'd be funny. Imagine Sasha in love. Sasha stumbling on words. Sasha falling in love with a person like Milla. You have to admit, it'd be absolutely hilarious."

"No. Let's just let them be. If Sasha went love-crazy, he wouldn't be good for shooting lessons anymore."

"Yeah, he might teach clairvoyance or telekinesis or something. It would be nice for Milla, though. Everyone knows she has a major crush on him."

"Well, yeah, but love isn't meant to be fiddled with."

"Oh, come _on,_ the main rumor at camp, besides that people were disappearing, was that the whole Elton/Milka thing was just love darts. I, personally, like to think those rumors were true. Plus, Elton isn't that sort of person. He wouldn't normally have left a message on the board. He'd be too embarrassed. Actually, I'm glad someone threw those darts. You're the best boyfriend I've ever had."

Lili smiled. She was pretty when she smiled. If only she smiled more…

"Thanks. It's good to know my smile isn't dorky or anything. Now, get the heck out of my mind."

He did. He'd had a nice, pleasant conversation with Lili, she hadn't called him many names, and he knew that he'd made her feel better.

Sweet? Too sweet? I know I haven't updated in forever, but while I was snow camping, I was trying (and completely failing) to forget about Psychonauts so I didn't annoy anyone. Did you know that when you look at the rows of grapevines in vineyards and you're whizzing by in a car, they look kind of like the kamikaze symbol? Of course, I had to explain to everyone about the Kamikaze Bunnies and Sasha and Psychonauts, but I tried and I worked on the beginning of a story I'm going to do. I need to do some reading before the new story though. I'm waiting for a decent idea for the 666 idea, and it seems like no one cares about it, but I'm not working hard on the idea.


	8. UnIsolated

Chapter 8: Un-Isolated

I'm having troubles with the last part of Waterloo World. It was easy enough the first time: jump up on the vertical thingy, levi-ball, float, hit, TK. I've tried other ways this time, but now I'm down to 12 ammo and having troubles aiming. What the heck am I supposed to do?

First, he had to face reality. He hadn't seen Lili in four days, and he was lonely.

What had happened, that he had such a crush on her that he had a hard time when he didn't see her for four days? Crushes were screwy.

So, he had taken up teaching. Actually, substitute teaching. It seemed that any psychonaut was automatically eligible to teach psychic abilities. Plus, he understood the Psycadets who he was expected to teach because he was their age. So everything was good. Almost. He had known, when he had decided to try to become a psychonaut at ten, that he'd get bored in between missions. Considering the amount of psychics, there was a very large number of psychonauts, and all of them were more advanced than he was. Homework just didn't take up enough time anymore. God forbid he ever took up gymnastics, the more domestic equivalent of acrobatics.

So he was bored all day. No Lili, Milla was on a mission with some other person, and Sasha was doing some "extremely delicate experiments." Of course, with Sasha, "delicate" was anything from baking (which he never did anyway) to something that could blow bits of the capitol all the way to California and made a crater the size of Mexico.

So he sat there most of the day, read a book he'd found in Boyd's mind (meaning that he was actually still in Boyd's mind) and ran around Fred's and Milla's minds trying to get all the figments.

Boredom.

Pure and utter boredom.

He went to sleep.

The alarm clock went off and he jammed the "Alarm" button down.

Then he remembered.

Today was the day.

He went to the woman in the front room, the same one as when he'd gotten there.

"Where's the psychoisolation chamber? My girlfriend's getting out of there today, and I want to be there."

"I have no way of confirming that information, and you have no right to be there."

"Okay, but if Lili asks why I wasn't there so she could tell me to get lost, I'll tell her the receptionist told me I couldn't talk to her when she came out."

He could feel her getting tense when he said that; no one messed with Lili. Ever. "You're the psychonaut ten-year-old, right?"

"Yep."

"Where it says 'High-security experimentation and training rooms' on the big map? That's where the psycho-room is."

"Psycho-room?"

"Slang. It's a room, right? And only crazy people would do things to get themselves thrown in there. So we call it the psycho-room."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks!"

"Let's just hope she's not a wreck like last time."

"She isn't. I've talked to her in her mind."

"In that case, the psycho-room needs a fresh lining."

"How about not. Don't tell anyone about this, and I'll forget everything I don't like about you."

"Deal. Now, get a move on. You don't want to get Miss Zanotto mad. Believe me, you really don't want to."

"Okay. Thanks!"

He went to the big map, the same one he'd used to find his room, looked up "high-security experimentation and training rooms" and went there.

He got there just as Lili got out. Then, right on cue…

"Get out of my way, weirdo. Only a freak would rush to see his girlfriend get out of psychoisolation."

He just smiled. Her mind was screwed up, her body probably felt like sludge, and yet she was still the insulting, evil, and occasionally sweet Lili he knew.

"That's a lie. I'm never sweet. I'm not evil, either. Just kind of mean to people I don't like. And people I do like. Whatever."

He still smiled, but he stepped out of her way as she ran into her father's arms. Psychoisolation was like prison, but worse: no communication, no being pitied, and no escape. It was nice to see her happy. Then it was over, and she went to her room, and, he assumed, to bed.

.-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-.

_Oh, my god. I have so much homework it isn't even funny. It's time for a calculator._

_That's like cheating. Plus, you have two and a half weeks to make it up._

_Yeah, and I chose to do my worst subject first. And it's only cheating if it's a fair amount of homework. This is insane._

_So… you're trying to catch up to two weeks of math in one day?_

_Wouldn't you?_

_No. I'd do social studies. Or English. They're my worst._

_Zig likes math. It's so annoying._

_That would be. Why are you talking to me if you need to do homework? It's… 5:30 AM._

_Yeah. I always do my homework in the morning. I'm just getting in some extra. Plus, this stimulates mental and psychic… stuff, so it wakes me up some. Zig does her homework in the afternoon if she doesn't finish it in class, so she gets up at 7. Probably because she can't get to sleep by 11. Well, bye!_

And she pulled out of his mind. That was the weirdest school-related conversation he'd ever had.

So, since he was up, he did the extra credit he was supposed to do the day before (He had always been home-schooled, or wagon-schooled or whatever, so he was in eighth grade and did things on his own schedule, but he liked to think he set dates to do things. Not that he actually did, but he liked to think he did.) and typed his report on the Civil War.

Boring.

He got breakfast.

Bored again.

Wow.

Big surprise.

So he went to a Psycadet training room and worked on his skills.

Then he did the inconceivable and registered in a gymnastics class. He was a circus acrobat, and, as much as he'd hated them for most of his life, he had to admit that life was more of an adventure when he did them.

The internet is a wonderful thing.

The day passed and was just as boring, so when he went to sleep, he was mentally and physically exhausted, and he was hoping that the next day would be more fun.

Yeah, after the climax, the story got kind of dull. There wasn't that much more to say. So I just made it part of the chapter.

About guys and gymnastics: if you're a guy and you want to do gymnastics, then you're cool because you want to express yourself. However, when I was in gymnastics a few years ago, there was only one class of boys and several classes of girls. Some things are just more oriented toward male or female stereotypes. For example, to middle school girls, rugby is a "dumb guy thing." I think gymnastics gets to be more of a guy thing when the guy in question gets older. However, rugby remains being just an excuse to hurt people for the sake of the possession of a little ball.


	9. Recovered

Chapter 9: Recovered

People were asking if this story was over last chapter. No. This is a Romance story, so by gosh, there has to be at least one kiss! I might (if I can bring myself to do it) end it in this chapter, then do a little summary or something. I'm not good at ending stories (or chapters) but I try. Plus, I'm working on Pride and Psychicness. I'm still looking for an ending of Can and Can't Change, but I don't think I'm going to find one, so…

Lili felt better. She was done with her homework, she'd done a little work on her mind's defenses, and she'd done some pilates.

Now, to find Raz to make today perfect…

She decided to just find his mind.

_Hey, dorkface! You there?_

_If I'm your boyfriend, why do you call me all those names?_

_Because it's fun. You don't complain like other people. And you have no idea how fun it is._

_You don't call Milla, Sasha, or Zig names!_

_Sasha and Milla are Psychonauts and a lot more powerful than I am right now. Zig just doesn't care. You don't notice it, but your mind twitches a little when I call you names. It's like when you use a little wire to jump a spark into a frog and its leg twitches. It's hilarious._

_Y'know, our relationship is kinda weird._

_Well, duh, we're ten year old psychics. What did you expect, freak?_

_Well, do you remember the first, uh, ten words you said to me?_

_No. Why would I?_

_They were, "Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer."_

_I remember that! Then I went back into Oleander's mind and we met up at the first meat plant. You had a lot of arrowheads… you know, for not having been at camp long._

_Well, Dogan also gave me four._

_Oh, wow, four mental arrowheads. Amazing feat there, huh, Raz?_

He pulled out of her mind. He was in his room. She started towards it. After finding Zig, who was looking for things she'd missed in her mind.

She knocked on his door. He answered it. This was why she'd been working on her mental defenses. Just this. The emotion she was feeling… everyone at camp had thought she was emo or emotionless or something. She just knew how to bottle up her emotions and save them to express later. She'd been saving her thoughts about Raz ever since she'd been thrown in the psycho-room. Now, she knew she couldn't hold them much longer.

"Oh! Hi Lili! Uh, I wasn't expecting… why are you looking at me like that?"

She kissed him. Right there in the hallway. It was as romantic as at Thorny Towers. Well, not with him shielding them both from a piece of falling debris… and he hadn't actually saved her… but he'd helped to keep her relatively sane while she was in psychoisolation.

Love couldn't be contained for long, or it just burst out. Not like anger, or sadness, or any of those emotions.

A psychonaut passed by in the hallway, looking at them for a couple seconds as he walked by. She ignored him. She and Raz were locked in… she'd never know what to call it. It was like, after a certain emotional event, you can't keep secrets from that person. She felt that with Raz for the first time in her life. Then they stopped kissing.

"Wow."

Just like at Thorny Towers.

Then she hugged him, smiling, and whispered, "Thank you for keeping me sane, Raz. And for helping me fight my personal demons. And for everything."

And that was the beginning

Of the rest

Of their relationship.

And that was that.

Wow that was a good chapter. I don't see Lili as being as emotionless as everyone else seems to. Sadistic and sarcastic, definitely, but not emotionless. I think this is a happy compromise. A very happy compromise. In fact, and absolutely joyful and loving compromise.

So now I only have one story that I'm actively working on. Wow, that's a relief. Not that this was a bad story, I actually liked it a lot, but you have no idea how hard it is to turn a book from 1813 into a modern story about Raz and Lili. Now, since I have ten minutes, plus and extra twenty or so, I'm going to work on that one.


End file.
